The Palin Rebound  —  There are some moments when members of a political movement come together as one, sharing the same thoughts, feeling the same emotions, breathing the same shallow breaths.  One of those occasions occurred Thursday night when Republicans around the country crouched nervously behind …

How Government Stoked the Mania  —  Housing prices would never have risen so high without multiple Washington mistakes.  —  Many believe that wild greed and market failure led us into this sorry mess.  According to that narrative, investors in search of higher yields bought novel securities …

D'OH  —  Watching the debate I noticed that Biden referred to the Muslim population of Bosnia and Herzegovina as “Bosniaks”.  This is actually the correct term, though in English people often say simply Bosnian Muslims.  When he said it, the first thing I though was, I wonder how many right-wingers …

Schwarzenegger to U.S.: State may need $7-billion loan  —  In a letter obtained by The Times, the governor warns that tight credit has dried up funds California routinely relies on and it may have to seek emergency aid within weeks.  —  SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger …

Hail Mary vs. Cool Barry  —  Krauthammer's Hail Mary Rule: You get only two per game.  John McCain, unfortunately, has already thrown three.  The first was his bet on the surge, a deep pass to David Petraeus who miraculously ran it all the way into the end zone.

Agency's '04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt, and Risk  —  “We have a good deal of comfort about the capital cushions at these firms at the moment.”  — Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, March 11, 2008.  —  As rumors swirled that Bear Stearns faced imminent collapse …

A Tie Goes To The House  —  DEMOCRATS NOW CONTROL 27 STATES' DELEGATIONS, BUT THAT MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO BREAK AN ELECTORAL COLLEGE DEADLOCK.  —  What if the Electoral College ended up tied, 269-269, prolonging this Alice-in-Wonderland campaign?  That's what would happen if Barack Obama won every state …

Projecting through the Screen  —  A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen.  It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat.  Palin too projects through the screen like crazy.

Edge of the Abyss  —  As recently as three weeks ago it was still possible to argue that the state of the U.S. economy, while clearly not good, wasn't disastrous — that the financial system, while under stress, wasn't in full meltdown and that Wall Street's troubles weren't having that much impact on Main Street.

Save the Economy - Save the Immigrants  —  Throughout time immigrants have driven the growth and prosperity of this country.  The concept of illegal immigrants is a relatively recent one.  The idea that we should keep out those who don't look like us, however, is an age-old effort.